Sacroiliac belt



Feb. 2% E951 R. E. DAvls 2543,095

SACROILIAC BELT Filed March 10, 1947 INVEN'PoE Ra. pH E DAM/5 Patentecl Feb. 27, 1951 o UNITED s'rATEs PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sacro-iliac belts.

In the past, sacro-iliac belts have been in the nature of a collar or girdle extending horizontallyv about the patients hips. Such belts usually require stiifening stays and frequently require straps for holding them down in place and preventing them from rising around the waist. e

I have discovered that I can provide a stayless, strapless and extremely eifective sacro-iliac belt by so cutting the belt that it will fit the patient's body about the iliac region and conform to the contours thereof, the two ends of the belt being joined by tension means which, it is found, must, for the desired effect, have a specific angle to the ends of the belt. I

Other objects of the inventon will appear more particularly in connection with the following disclosure thereof.

In the drawings: v

Fg. 1 is a front view of my improved belt as it appears in use.

Fig. 2 is a view on an enlarged scale showing the belt as it appears when collapsed on a table and viewed in plan.

Fig. 3 is a plan view on a reduced scale of the open belt.

Fig. 4 is a front view showing the belt mounted about the inner periphery of a hip pad member, the latter member being partially opened outwardly to display the manner in which the belt is mounted thereon.

The belt 4 is preferably made of relatively nonelastic webbing having a marginal binding at 5 and preferably cut in the form of a very shallow V, as shown in Fig. 3. The central apex 6 of the V is adapted, in use, to rest over the sacro-iliac joint and is provided with a supporting pad 1.

Toward the ends of the belt, the sides in the areas 8 are almost parallel. The extreme ends 9 are enlarged and provided with pads of felt or the like at 111 on their inner surfaces to cushion the contact of the ends with the patient's body and at the same time to stiffen the ends against Wrinkling.

Exteriorly, the belt is provided near its ends with diagonally stitched anchorage means 1| .for the respective tensioning straps 12 and the supporting straps 13 for the buckles 14 in which the free ends of straps 12 are anchored in use.

In Fig. 2, I have drawn at 15 a broken line which represents a center line between the side margins of the belt where such margins are approximately parallel in the zone 8. I have found that it is very important that the straps 2, 13,

e form an obtuse angle with the projected center line V15 which is no greater than approximately 160 degrees, as shown by the arc 16. In cases where the side margins of the belt or the side margins of the straps are not approximately parallel at the point of Strap connection thereto, the obtuse angle should be measured between that line which most nearly represents the course of the strap and that line which most nearly represents the general course of the belt from the crease of the ilium toward the end of the belt, such line being herein designated as a center line even though, at a particular point, it may not be midway between the sides of the belt.

When a belt so constructed is worn as indicated in Fg. 1, the pad 1 will be positioned'directly over the sacrum and will ordinarly be high enough to cover and re-enforce the lumbo-sacro joint. The belt will extend somewhat upwardly from this point to within perhaps an inch below f the Superior crests of the ilium at each side of the patient's body. Thence the belt will follow downwardly at 45 degrees more or less along the lines of the pelvis'and Will be held by the `angularity of the tension means 12 13 in a position which tends to support the pubie arch and which is stable without normally requiring the use of either stays or peritoneal holding straps. It conforms to the lines and angles of the pelvis giving complete support to the pelvic ring. The belt, by reason of the strap angle, does not tend either to wrinkle or to ride up on the patient's body.

It is not desirable that there should be anything yieldable about the belt. The heavy webbing used both in the belt and in the tension straps 12, 13 is such as to be Virtually non-elastic under such strains as develop in use.

A belt made as herein disclosed is sufiiciently comfortable, by reason of the absence of stays and groin straps, to be worn habitually and, when so worn, it Will eifectively support the sacro-iliac joint against displacement andalso has the effect of tending to prevent hernia.

The belt described above may be incorporated with good effect in another garment, as for example, a football players hip pad 1'1 illustrated in Fig. 4. A hip pad of this type, when worn about the body, gives a measure of protection against injury, but it does not have the same protective and supporting functions as characterize the belt. However, by combining the belt with an auxiliary garment in the general manner illustrated in Fig. 4, there is provided a completely protective member having all the desirable features of the belt itself, together with those additional Safety factors provided by the auxiliary member. The combination of the belt with any auxiliary garment may be used, provided that the belt will not thereby be drawn out of its proper protective position when the resulting combined member is applied about the body.

This application is a continuation in part of my application, Serial Number` 625,223, for Sacro- Iliac Bert, filedf October 29, 1945, and which has' now become abandoned.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a belt cut in the form of a shallow V and having a central apex provided with a pad adapted to rest over' the patients sacrum, the belt having intermediate portionsat. each side of said pad adapted to rest above said pad and just below the Superior crest of the patient's ilium, said belt having widened ends having both theirV upper and lower margins downwardly inc-lined from corresponding margins of' said intermediate portions and provided with stiffening means. andv anchoragesimmediately ad' jacent the respective ends, together with a. plurality of tension straps connected with the respective anchorages and externally spanning such ends,4 said straps being obliquely disposed respecting such ends whereby to cause such ends to assume a downwardly' directed position, the respective straps. being substantiall'y parallel with each other and having an angle to the projected centerlines of the respective belt portions beyondl said anchorages, which angle is at least asV small: as approximately 160 degreea 2. A device of the character described com.- prisingzthe combination with a belt having lateral portions. of a form applicable over a patientis hips', said belt being provided intermediate said lateral portions: with a rear portion provided With a sacrum pad, said belt having end portions; extendi'ng forwardlyl and' d'ownwardly' from, said-1 lateral portions; and anchorages, immediatelyadjacent the respective ends, ofv a plural'ity of ten-- sion straps connected with the respective anchorages and externally spanning such' ends, the straps being disposed at an oblique angle at least as small as 160- respecting; the belt end portions at said anchorages for disposi'tion' of said straps inv a generally horizontal di-rection across the. front of the patient's body to urge such ends toV downwardly directed positions.

3. The device of claim 2 in combination with an auxiliary garment member externally attached to the belt and having end portions adapted to be closed on the end portions of the belt.

4. The device of claim 2 in further combination with a hip pad mounted on the garment for positioning by said belt.

5. A device of the character described comprisingV a substantially non-elastic belt adapted to encircle the lower part of a patientls body and provided in an intermediate rear portion With a sacro-iliac pad centrally disposed, said belt having hip-engaging lateral portions at each side of the pad adapted to fit the patient just below the Superior crestl of the patientis ilium, the belt extending downwardly from each of said lateral portions and being provided with wide re-enforcedv ends, anchorages on the belt between said ends and said lateral portions, a plurality of straps; connected with eachV of the respective anchorages and disposed obliquely respecting the center line of the belt at the respective anchoragcs at obtuse angles at least as. small as approximately 1,60,v theA corresponding straps connected with respective anchorages being provided with buckla means for their cross-connection substantially horizontally at the front of the patient's bodyl and across said ends, whereby to cause the ends to assume a downwardly directed position at the-frontof the patient'sbody.

RALPH E. DAVIS` REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date '767,307 Montigny Aug. 9', 1904 775,342 Abee Mar. 22, 1904 2,232,381 Grant Feb. 18, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,,912 Great. Britain of 18,45 '768,665 France Aug. 10, 1934 174,457 Switzerland Apr. 1, 1935 791,351 France Dec.v 10, 1 35 

